By Peter Fish, on 14-Mar-2010

The staff at John Williams salerooms in Sydney’s Alexandria couldn’t believe the spectacular prices paid for a brace of Aussie-related ceramics offered on behalf fo the Australian Fund at the firm’s recent sale. A Royal Doulton vase painted with the lovely heath fuchsia, epacris longiflora, apparently a pair to one in the Powerhouse collection, brought a buoyant $4000 plus premium.

The piece - which was highlighted on this web site some weeks ago -is one of a series from the Burslem factory painted by Katherine Smallfield around 1890-1900, based on original designs from a Miss Rutherford of Bathurst.

An ornate four-piece toilet set featuring bottle brush, flannel flowers and other native species brought a similar price. It is believed former media figure Trevor Kennedy - these days a keen Australiana buyer - was among those showing interest.

John Williams’s is currently awash with toby jugs and beer steins - hundreds of them - from a massive one-owner collection which will be offered at its sale on March 27 and 28.

 

Sale Referenced:

About The Author

Peter Fish has been writing on art and collectables for 30 years in an array of publications. With extensive experience in Australia and South-Eat Asia, he was until 2008 a senior business journalist and arts columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald.